As the fourth quarter unfolded late Friday night at EnergySolutions Arena, it was clear that one of these teams would be kicking itself after giving away a victory. And when somebody raises a Northwest Division banner next month and enjoys a top-four seed in the Western Conference playoffs, this is the game everybody would remember.
It was either going to be the Jazz, who failed to seize control immediately after a 17-0 run spanning halftime gave them all the momentum they could have wanted, or the Denver Nuggets, who blew the 19-point lead they held late in the first half. Result: A 97-91 Jazz win that was a tribute to their resilience, as well as their insistence on increasing the degree of difficulty.
So now the Jazz can hit the road happily, having won 10 games in a row -- and needing all of them to stay in the thick of things in the West.
"One of the things we've been talking about is we believe in each other," said Jazz forward Carlos Boozer. "We had to fight all the way back. To see this team be able to do it shows we've got a lot of character, a lot of pride."
In a pregame conversation, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was trying not to attach too much significance to Friday's impact on the standings, suggesting such a pressurized approach can "get in your hair." Something obviously messed up the Jazz for a while, but whatever it was, they overcame it just in time.
As Sloan said, "The second half, we came out and acted like we wanted to play."
Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony's foul trouble helped the Jazz's cause, and so did the way Deron Williams outplayed Denver guard Chauncey Billups as the Jazz (39-23) trimmed the Nuggets' lead to a half-game in the division with 20 games remaining.
Denver coach George Karl had framed the contest as "kind of our marquee game," a chance for a critical road breakthrough. The Jazz seemingly played along, only to deliver their biggest comeback since rallying from 22 points down at New Jersey in December.
Yet until the last couple of minutes, nothing about the Jazz's performance in the first half suggested anything that was to come.
They hardly resembled a team trying for a 10th straight victory. The Jazz repeatedly threw the ball away, missed all kinds of inside shots and free throws and gave up a bunch of offensive rebounds. Other than that, they looked fairly sharp.
The Jazz scored the last nine points of the half to cut Denver's lead to 47-37.
But it was still apparent at the break that only one of these teams was responding to a big game, and it was not the guys who were resting while Denver was playing Thursday.
If the Jazz's recent run was seemingly a product of visiting teams' coming to town in back-to-back situations, the Nuggets were defying that theory Friday.
But then everything changed. In the first six minutes of the third quarter, the Jazz made 14 of 15 free throws, creating those opportunities with drives to the basket. Denver steadied itself, though, ensuring that even after Jazz forward C.J. Miles hit two three-pointers in the last minute of the period for a 73-69 lead, this would become the "fourth-quarter game" that Karl forecasted.
And that's when the Jazz took over, finally.
kkragthorpe@sltrib.com
